Friday, May 16, 2008

Bay blasts homer off bench to lift Pittsburgh to win

Jason Bay stepped off the bench in the eighth inning and slammed a three run homer to complete a Pirate comeback from 3 runs down as the Pirates rallied for an 11-5 win in a getaway game in rainy St.Louis.The Pirates scored 7 runs on a sloppy surface in the final two innings to cement the victory.As we watched the game,I thought on two earlier occasions with runners on base that John Russell should have used Bay to pinch hit,but Russell saved Bay for later instead.Russell was right and I was wrong.Nate McLouth led the game off with his 11th homer of the season and the Pirates received solid performances from three unusual players as Doug Mientkiewicz and Chris Gomez each collected three hits while Jason Michaels joined Freddy Sanchez with 2 RBI on the day.Starter Ian Snell struggled in the rainy conditions and was chased after just four innings as he allowed 11 hits and all 5 Cardinal runs.John Grabow collected the win to improve to 3-1 on the season.The Pirates travel to Chicago for 3 day games in a row against the Cubs.

The wonderful world of Inter-league play starts today,but the Pirates aren't one of the teams involved.Good,the fewer of these for the Bucs the better and yes,I really don't care if they play the Yankees or the Red Sox either.

The Cleveland Browns brought former Brown Jereme Perry back to Cleveland with a one year contract.Perry spent last season in Miami and is likely to be a special teams performer.

Ballpark Digest is reporting that a local family is going to be involved with the effort for the new team in Richmond and that it is likely to be pointed at getting a team at the AA level.Fine with us!

Ballprak Digest also has a rumor floated that Minor League has a schedule ready for 2009 that would send the new Bowling Green Kentucky team (Currently the Columbus Catfish) and the Lake County Captains to the Midwest League.The move would flip the current 16-14 team ratio in favor of the South Atlantic League to one that would give the higher number to the Midwest circuit.I would miss seeing the Indians affiliate in town,but I could live with it-IF it meant more teams coming to Hagerstown next season.

One thing that may keep the Bowling Green team in the SAL?The possibility of a lucrative rivalry with the in-state rivals-the Lexington Legends.Just a thought.